Page 23 of Operation: Chosen

Eric listened and to his credit, didn’t sayI told you so. “I’m sorry he cheated on you.”

Ali snorted. “I’m not. It kept him away from me. What frightened me was when he finally decided he wanted me out of the way so he could be with someone else. He was a drunk and really good with a gun, but not at the same time. He came home angry because I was there, in the house we shared. He threatened me, waved the gun around, then decided to toss me around and beat me up with it.”

The story sounded to her own ears like she was talking about anyone but herself. She could almost believe it was someone other than her if she didn’t delve into her own feelings too deeply. “From that moment on I learned how military men stick together. No one believed me. They all sided with him. Some of them went so far as to make my life miserable enough that I transferred. I was the outcast and eventually had to move to escape the verbal abuse I faced every single day after he announced he was leaving me.”

Eric lowered his voice even more. “Memories can be hard.”

She knew Eric had always been a man of few words, and there was more to the words than what he’d said. His statement seemed so small compared to what was actually going on in her mind and heart. “You can say it. Serves me right. I chose him over you because he could get me where I wanted to be. I deserved what I got.”

She waited for a moment, but he said nothing and only looked confused by her words. She had to fill the silence. “I ended up in the hospital. Just like when I was a kid, no one believed what I said happened. I’d been a lawyer for a few years by then and assumed people would believe me. I was wrong.”

Eric frowned and closed his eyes as he leaned against the sofa. “I had always wondered who he was and what he offered that I couldn’t.” He raised his knees and rested his arms on them. “I always knew you were more driven than I was, but I never figured it would drive you away from me. I was always in your corner. You could always count on me.”

“Not always. When I asked you to put a little effort into your military career, you said no. You said that wasn’t your calling and you had other plans. I needed a steady plan, something I could be sure of. There is no other career out there that is as sure as the military. Do your job, and you keep it.”

He snorted. “I did my job, and then I left. I’m okay with that. I trained horses for a while in Kentucky, but I wanted out. I wanted to make a difference, so I started working with a horse rescue that had auctions. We saved a lot of animals.”

“I saved people.” Not that she wanted him to feel less for what he’d done, but she’d gone through all that school and all that effort to be able to help people.

“That came later for me. Connor saw that I could train horses, and he had the plan for this ranch. It was originally a place for wounded veterans to come and work. Finding employment can be difficult for men who have been in the military for a long time. They don’t bend the way a lot of civilian work environments need them to bend. But after a while, he shifted focus and the men who came to heal began to help others do the same.”

That was more than she’d heard him say at one time, ever. Telling him about her past hadn’t made her self-combust, nor did she sound like the self-centered brat that she’d been worried she’d sound like. There was still embarrassment, but she’d managed. Maybe at some point she could even broach the real reason she’d publicly turned him down instead of doing it in private like he probably wished. Or maybe she’d stick to her mantra and keep the past in the past.

“Feel better?” he asked as he slowly stood. Watching him straighten to his feet and seeing his muscles bulge and flex did strange things to her belly and left her mouth dry.

“A little. I’m worried about those boys. That kid pulled a gun on me for no reason at all and aimed it at me. They mean business. We need to protect the boys.” She wasn’t sure what she could do, but she wasn’t going to let Big E, Jayzon, and Terrell be bullied or forced to live any way they didn’t want to or shouldn’t. She’d stop every kid from having to make choices like that if she could.

“Agreed. Now that we know they’re trying to get in, we won’t let them get past the gate again.”

“Any new information on the attempted horse thieves?” Ali was happy to change the subject to anything other than her past.

“No. Teddy looked at the security cameras, but none of them show faces, and the trailer didn’t have a license plate. It was a dead end.”

Somehow the situation with the horses and boys felt attached, but she couldn’t say how. “There’s never a true dead end. Maybe we just need to look at the clues differently.” That would give her something to do until Cole returned. That and getting Eric to continue to talk to her. She could do all that in two weeks, no trouble at all. The trouble for her would come when it was time to leave.

ChapterTen

After making sure Ali was all right, Eric headed for Connor’s office. That’s where the boys would be. As one of the men who was supposed to be leading them, Eric had to be there to hear what they had to say. He arrived at Connor’s office, knocked, and let himself in when he was told to.

Connor sat behind his desk, Brendon waited off to his right, and Teddy sat on the sofa along the wall with Junior and Sam. The boys sat in three chairs facing Connor. Eric leaned against the wall near the door since there were no seats left and he didn’t want to interrupt anyone to make them move. The room felt stuffy and heavy.

“Eric, thanks for coming. We were just getting around to talking about who those guys were in the car.” Connor looked at each of the boys. “This won’t happen again. I don’t know what kind of life you had growing up, but this isn’t acceptable behavior. You don’t drive up to someone’s house and start shooting.”

Brendon nodded. “We’ve always allowed families to come and check in with our guests as long as families call ahead and arrange times to do so. While we are secret, we’re not keeping secrets from your families unless they were part of the abuse cycle.” He gripped the arms of his wheelchair and shifted slightly. “So, we won’t be allowing anyone here who is not a member of your immediate family.”

Big E and Jayzon both snorted, but Big E was the only one to speak. “We both have brothers who were in that car. My brother might not want me dead, but he’ll do whatever he’s told to, just like I would.”

“And how does your mother feel about that?” Sam asked.

Jayzon scoffed. “She thinks gangs are savage and that they amount to nothing, but she doesn’t know Damion is part of it.”

Big E backhanded Jayzon in the chest. “Keep your mouth shut, or you’ll be the one to get it.”

Terrell shook his head slowly. “I don’t think any of you understand. None of us are getting out of this. The leaders sent both of your brothers as a test to see if they would follow through on taking out a blood relative. Didn’t you hear them say none of us are getting in?”

Connor leaned forward on his desk, interrupting what could turn into an argument. “I call all the men of Wayside my brothers, but that doesn’t mean we are related. We will not allow anyone not related by blood on this property to see you and those boys especially.”

Jayzon leaned forward, almost in Connor’s face. “And I’m telling you theyareour blood brothers. Mine is two years older than me. The moment he got in, he told me about how they support everyone. There’s a structure, with leaders and followers. No one is left behind. Except now.” He looked away. “I can’t believe Damion would do me dirty like that.”

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